About the The Mandela Rhodes Scholarship Programme

The Mandela Rhodes Foundation is one of Nelson Mandela’s three official legacy organisations, founded in 2003 in partnership with the Rhodes Trust. The purpose of the foundation is to build exceptional leadership capacity in Africa by finding, funding, and empowering young Africans who aspire to use their talents to serve their societies and the continent. This is achieved by providing a postgraduate scholarship for young leaders to study in South Africa and participate in a residential Leadership Development Programme. The programme is built on Nelson Mandela’s belief that leadership begins with inner transformation, and the founding principles of reconciliation, education, entrepreneurship, and leadership.

The scholarship covers tuition for a one-year Honours degree or a two-year Masters degree in any field at a recognised South African institution of higher education. This includes tuition and registration fees, allowances for study materials, research, and medical aid, accommodation and meals, personal allowance and economy class travel to and from your home country to your South African university at the beginning and end of your degree. Beneficiaries will also receive a personal allowance.

Eligibility criteria

If you are between the ages of 19 and 29, are a citizen of any African country, and have a first degree with above average academic results (70% or upper second), you are eligible to apply for the scholarship.

To benefit from the programme you must be curious about doing the personal, internal work of leadership. This means a commitment to developing self-awareness by engaging with difficult parts of yourself, an openness to learning from the diversity and differences in your cohort, and a willingness to explore and embrace complexity within yourself, others, and the systems around you.

How To Apply

The application timeline runs from March to November of each year, for the following year’s intake. Applications open on 23 March 2021 and close 20 April 2021. You will apply online, and access our application platform through the official website.

Requirements:

1.  Three character recommendation letters (to be submitted directly by your references)
2. Copies of degrees, transcripts, ID and passport
3. Two short essays (i) for your personal journey *ii) specific question relating to your principles
4. Application for university (proposed course of study)

Read more about the Mandela Rhodes Scholarship Programme on the official website.